In the early days of computing, the operating system was on some
computers protected by storing all of it in ROM, so no users or
systems process could modify it. There was no memeory protection
scheme on the computer in those days.
Discuss the problem(s) that could arise from this scheme.

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Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 24 Mar 2003 17:20 PST

Hello Teddy78,

Are you still interested in an answer to this question? I can describe
a number of problems related to both lack of memory protection and the
"OS in ROM".

  --Maniac

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Clarification of Question by teddy78-ga on 25 Mar 2003 08:34 PST

Hi!
I was actually expecting an answer from you as you have answered my
question last time.

But unfortunately I have got some idea from a lecturer about this
problem.

However I would like to have your email address to contact you,
whether if I have got any queries in future.

Thanks

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Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 25 Mar 2003 09:31 PST

Hello Teddy78,

Sorry - I was on a vacation last week & did not see your query to
answer it more promptly. If you already have an adequate answer - I
suggest removing the question (so you won't be charged for an
inappropriate answer).

About email addresses - the guidelines of Google Answers generally
prohibit posting personal information - refer to
  https://answers.google.com/answers/researcherguidelines.html#which
for more details. If you have a question that you want a particular
researcher to answer - say "for Maniac" (or another researcher name)
in the title - we will certainly look for those questions first.

Thanks.

  --Maniac

One of the first things to come to mind is expandability.
I remember my good ol' Commodore 64. It is a good example of an
operating system stored in ROM. As soon as I turned it on, WHALLA! I
had my command prompt! That's on the plus side...
The downside of it is if I wanted to take advantage of some of the
newer programs written (i.e. for the Commodore 128), I couldn't just
run up to Best Buy and get a 64K stick of memory. I would have had to
go and get a brand new computer!

On Microsoft Windows XP (home/pro) you could protect your files with a
user log-in (when you turn on your computer you must enter you
user-name and password or else access is denide.

Even with a password prtoected login like on XP or Windows 2000, many
applications allow access to re-name or supply a new password to the
administrator account.
Even a parallel installation will allow access to all local files.
About the only reliable way to ensure that no one has access to the
files you don't want them to see is by using a file encryption scheme.
Like Microsoft's EFS (Encrypted File System), or PGP, or other similar
packages.

Thanks for considering my question and posting comments. Actually the
answer mainly I am looking for the question is to list the problem
could arise and not the solutions. So it would be grateful if any of
you can find and discuss the problem that could arise from this
scheme.
I would like to thank flajason and farzin for posting comments
regarding this question